Mongol, Khalka of Mongolia

Bah᧩s in Iran

Since 1979, Iranian authorities have killed more than 200 Bah᧩ leaders, and thousands have been arrested. By May of this year they have arrested seven more.

The Bah᧩ faith began in Persia (present day Iran). Their founder, Bah᧵‘llᨬ was a Persian nobleman. In the 1800s he began a faith, where according to a Bah᧩ web site (bahai.org) “there is only one God, there is only one human race, and all the world’s religions represent stages in the revelation of God’s will….” Bah᧵‘llᨠclaimed to be the latest in a line of people God has used to reveal his will to humankind-a line that includes the likes of Moses, Buddha, Christ, and Muhammad.

It is this latter claim that brings the Bah᧩ community into conflict with all Muslim states, since Islam teaches that Mohammad was the ultimate prophet of God. So in the land of its birth, present followers experience unrelenting persecution and opposition.

History shows that groups generally unify in the face of opposition. Such is the case for Bah᧩s. A Bah᧩ spokesman says, “time and again, Bah᧩s have been offered their freedom [from Iranian prisons] if they recant their Bah᧩ beliefs and convert to Islam, an option few have taken.”

Pray that Christ would reveal his uniqueness to these courageous people. Pray that believers in Iran will bridge the divide and show the love of Christ to their Bah᧩ countrymen.-EF